Mastitis

Mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland and udder tissue. It is a major endemic disease of dairy cattle. Mastitis usually occurs as an immune response to bacterial invasion of the teat canal and is the number one disease behind antibiotic use in the dairy industry.

We offer the following Mastitis services:

Milk Quality Review

Completed annually, an overview of mastitis KPIs, determination of DCT and LCT policy, and identification of the need for further investigation.

Individual Cow Assessments

Farm visit, clinical examination and treatment

Teat scoring

Our trained techs score teats during milking to determine whether indicators of poor skin condition, congestion and teat end roughness (hyperkeratosis) are present. This can help identify key mastitis risks in your herd before they have a notable effect and is now part of the WelFarm program.

Milk Culture

Lab tests - Mastatest, Bioscreen and standard culture services. Identification of bacteria involved and the sensitivity to antimicrobials.

Bioscreen Cascade

Technician collected milk samples to identify the bacteria and sensitivity profiles behind high somatic cell count cows.

Antiobiogram

This helps you understand whether you are harbouring resistant bacteria on your farm. It can change the way you treat your cows.

Heifersafe –teat sealing/ DCT insertion

Protect heifers from early-season environmental mastitis. Use our team to assist with the DCT application.

Early Season Milk Quality Report (MQR)

Determine the efficacy of Dry Cow Therapy, Teat sealant use in heifers, and identify chronically infected cows. 

Mastitis Focus Review

Using the Mastitis Focus Report available in Infovet, the vet provides a more in-depth review of the farm’s mastitis with a focus on new infection rates.

Healthy Udder Training

On-farm sessions for up to 8 farm workers focused on farm-level best practice mastitis control: Prevention, detection, treatment, use of screening tools such as RMT, Milking routine and environmental management to reduce mastitis risk.

Mastitis Data Analysis

Analysis of all available data on a farm’s mastitis situation, including BMSCC, Herd Test, Clinical Mastitis, New Infection rates, and Bacterial data on file. This can be a prelude to a Milk Quality Consultation. It takes 1-2 hours, depending on the availability of information in Infovet.

Milk Quality Screening Visit

A cut-down version of the full Milk Quality Consultation. Checks teats, plant vacuum, teat-spray and management of the milking mob. Often a prelude to a Milk Quality Consultation. Usually confined to part of a milking rather than the whole milking.

Milk Quality Consultation

A comprehensive investigation of the underlying causes of mastitis on a farm, resulting in a plan to address these. Comprises a mastitis data analysis, a milking visit for the duration of milking, including a wet test of the milking machine, milk culturing equivalent to Bioscreen cascade or better, and a comprehensive written report.